That is scientific fact: 30% of the world is currently myopic, and individuals who spend considerable time reading are more likely to develop myopia faster than the non-reading species. Coincidence? I don’t think so … Forget that other possible causes may include “working at a computer,” or “doing other intense close visual work” because I think we have a perfect culprit here, especially with the boom of e-readers and online magazines: reading. Guilty as charged. Based on current trends, this worldwide myopic statistic will grow to 50% by 2050. I don’t know about you but I already suffer from hyperopia. If my physical-science assumptions are correct, farsightedness plus nearsightedness equals blindness, and I’m not in such a rush to go completely dark. To prevent yourself from being another brick in the statistics, they say that the solution is as easy as a walk in the outside daylight. So, hurry up and drop your book, enjoy the sun; it’s summer after all, and who wants to read in the quietness of a park in the shade of a tree anyway? You could look up at the sky and maybe catch an eclipse with the naked eye. Why not?

It’s twilight. I go out, sit in a lounge chair in my backyard, and look before me into the void (which resembles a painting of shades of green; grass and strange flowers you can only see around here and a whole bunch of other tropical vines that anarchically crawl up the fence). And I wait, listening to a silence that’s only disturbed by a handful of bugs, focusing on all and nothing, and I think “Tropics” when what I really want to think about is: “Topics.”

It’s about 9:00 PM, and now that my kids have finally fallen asleep, the rest of the evening is open. On this particular night, I’ve been looking forward to starting a new book. So I curl up on the couch, wrap a blanket around me, and open my Kindle. Now there’s only one thing left to do before I can begin reading.

“Ready for chapter one?” I tap out in Facebook Messenger.

The response is almost immediate: “Yes, let’s go!”

And with that, I turn my attention back to the first chapter, knowing that 2300 miles away, the other half of this book club a deux is reading the same words right along with me.

Wait … Mulder and Scully had a second child? When did that happen?? And how!?

Just hold your horses, there. It didn’t happen. Technically. But that’s the beauty of fanfiction: whatever you dream up in your head can suddenly happen in your favorite fandom. All you have to do is write it down.

If you’ve been living under a rock (or, more generously, not that invested in entertainment) you may not be familiar with the concept of fanfiction. Basically, it’s fiction featuring characters and other elements from a particular fandom (TV series, movies, books, video games, etc.) written by a fan. If you think that’s a lot of “fiction” and a lot of “fan” in one sentence, you’re starting to get the idea. To put it more simply: it’s a story written by an author who shamelessly steals someone else’s copyright. Authors don’t get paid, but they don’t get sued, either. Fair enough.READ MORE

Have you ever been so absorbed in a book that it left you laughing out loud through heartrending tears? Shit, I wish reading glasses came with demister devices. I’ve hitherto read lots of books from numerous authors, nationalities and centuries, and in various genres or interests. Humorous books not always funny, thriller books offering new insight on a good nightmare’s sleep, historical books that are more effective than Ambien, and even erotic books benefiting both you and your spouse into some horizontal hula dancing. Thereby, I mostly read children’s books these days.

But then, among all those fine books, there’s this one, this Crème de la crème one that kept me awake past four in the morning for two nights in a row. It was simply too good to stop, like the best sex you’ve ever had (with a book), hands down. Now we’re talking. If you thought reading was not your thing, then this one will change your mind about books. (Or sex.)